tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32570460.post5447333045555643834..comments2024-03-13T07:34:24.149+00:00Comments on The Age of Uncertainty: Back to WaterstonesSteerforthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07627936539372313828noreply@blogger.comBlogger20125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32570460.post-17031191951387804852016-09-22T07:04:30.949+00:002016-09-22T07:04:30.949+00:00Anonymous - Apparently it's better now, but it...Anonymous - Apparently it's better now, but it would be hard to be worse than the moronic thugs that HMV imposed on us.Steerforthhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07627936539372313828noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32570460.post-10862964059624272822016-09-21T21:38:42.194+00:002016-09-21T21:38:42.194+00:00such a horrible company to work for ... they treat...such a horrible company to work for ... they treat their staff like dirt.... can't imagine its improved much over the years .. terrible working hours terrible money and horrible vile managers Foyles is far store.... with a much better selection of books.. I didn't know about the people throwing themselves over the stairs but I can't say that I am surprised the problem with a shop like Waterstones is it has no heart.. in so many ways.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32570460.post-91132249923449319942014-10-04T09:57:05.933+00:002014-10-04T09:57:05.933+00:00Good question. I think the answer would still be n...Good question. I think the answer would still be no for most people, as many have gone on to find interesting new careers with the added bonus of better money and weekends off. I don't think bookselling is as much fun as it was and the competition from Amazon and ebooks has made a lot of people in the industry feel that it doesn't have much of a future. I would certainly be very reluctant to manage a shop again, unless it was a very interesting project.Steerforthhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07627936539372313828noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32570460.post-41232624102523277832014-10-04T07:13:06.464+00:002014-10-04T07:13:06.464+00:00It's pretty clear that there are a lot of disg...It's pretty clear that there are a lot of disgruntled ex Waterstones managers/booksellers here. Did you all jump ship at the wrong time and wish you'd stayed?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32570460.post-772091937572890902013-10-22T16:28:48.295+00:002013-10-22T16:28:48.295+00:00Ms B - I'm sorry I missed it. I noticed that w...Ms B - I'm sorry I missed it. I noticed that when I moved outside the M25, I might as well have gone to the Congo. Invitations to publishing bashes dried up almost overnight, as people assumed that I wasn't available. <br /><br />I can take or leave authors, but I would have loved to see the reps!<br /><br />Anonymous - Yes, that's what bothers me. I want to be positive about Waterstones because I was so critical about its previous owners, but the lack of local autonomy bothers me. <br /><br />As far as Daunt is concerned, an ex-manager told me that he is a rather introverted man and lets his operations director (who is regarded as a bit of an HMV dinosaur) do most of the talking at conferences. He is, by his own admission, no James Heneage, but I think people appreciate his candour and committment to bookselling.<br /><br />I've heard mixed reports about the shops. They look better than they have done for a long time, but the sales seem to be on a downward trajectory.Steerforthhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07627936539372313828noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32570460.post-31740742040861622882013-10-22T13:07:03.480+00:002013-10-22T13:07:03.480+00:00What I find interesting is the gaping chasm betwee...What I find interesting is the gaping chasm between the PR fluff of "robust sales" and "more interesting place to work" and "less centralised" that JD is getting away with. <br /><br />The actual departures numbered around 300, the company is more centralised than ever, there is a painful lack of leadership (a very successful bookseller does not a very successful MD make, necessarily) and sales are apparently not at all as they claim. <br /><br />W is the last major specialist high street bookseller, so no sane person wishes it ill. It is also privately owned. This means that the spin that they are getting away with is appalling. <br /><br />I hope it flourishes, I really do, but the public perception of what type of place it is to work, is smoke and mirrors. Much more so than under HMV, however ghastly their practices were, they never got away with this flagrant misrepresentation.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32570460.post-40062351501714501032013-10-21T23:25:55.438+00:002013-10-21T23:25:55.438+00:00Thanks, very illuminating! I never knew that about...Thanks, very illuminating! I never knew that about the stairs... grim. And God, I well remember the days of those publishing parties, where you'd go and they'd be PUSHING copies of the book at you, HERE, take another one to give away! <br /><br />The best party I've been to in YEARS was the other week - the 10th anniversary party for the London Review Bookshop, and you should have been there. A paean to booksellers and a shop that continues to be on the up. The bubbly flowed (though they didn't give us books). I ran into people I hadn't seen in over a decade, and had chats with a Mr Mars-Jones and Ms Callil... Even our old Hamish Hamilton rep from the mid-80s was there! So LRB must be doing something right. It's a really encouraging sign. <br /><br />As for the rest... Ms Baroquehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01836227454899083962noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32570460.post-4533114900986178442013-10-19T09:34:11.152+00:002013-10-19T09:34:11.152+00:00Rob - Thanks for commenting and introducing me to ...Rob - Thanks for commenting and introducing me to your excellent blog, which I shall now read regularly. <br /><br />Steerforthhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07627936539372313828noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32570460.post-56714515065433452082013-10-18T23:02:31.215+00:002013-10-18T23:02:31.215+00:00Enjoying your blog, fellow south-saxon.
If you t...Enjoying your blog, fellow south-saxon. <br /><br />If you think the woman playing the video in the bookshop is bad, you ought to visit the Hamilton Central Library out here in New Zealand, which I've blogged about:<br /><br />http://robscovell.blogspot.co.nz/2013/10/for-love-of-books-get-rid-of-those.html<br /><br />Looking forward to your next post. I like the cut of your jib, sir.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32570460.post-9909170181158363762013-10-16T20:56:45.925+00:002013-10-16T20:56:45.925+00:00James - That's what's finished me off. At ...James - That's what's finished me off. At Ottakar's I was trusted to run the shop as if it was my own. If I didn't agree with a pricing strategy, I could use my initiative. <br /><br />Waterstone's was obsessed with 'compliance' (one of their favourite words) and would use phrases like 'brand identity' and 'consistency across the estate'. I was supplied with 'planograms' to tell me which shelves to put the books on. I didn't know whether to laugh or cry.<br /><br />And if some enterprising local author had dared to produce a book that might sell, they had to jump through a ridiculous number of hoops to get it on the shelf.<br /><br />The impression I get is that today's Waterstones is better, but there is still too much central control, even if it has been devolved to 'clusters' of stores. <br /><br />I'd just trust the booksellers to do their job.Steerforthhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07627936539372313828noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32570460.post-46380605684556380362013-10-16T20:05:31.637+00:002013-10-16T20:05:31.637+00:00Waterstones ordering system still a nightmare - a ...Waterstones ordering system still a nightmare - a publisher friend tried to order a Rough Guide in a certain Waterstones not far from Bristol, was told they would not be able to get it in less than a month. New titles ordered in tiny numbers, then reorders take so long readers lose interest... Answer, browse in the bookshop, buy from Amazon. Perhaps they should charge a browsing fee? Obsession with central control not healthy. James Russellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03199461104138671799noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32570460.post-16620674464592673752013-10-16T12:08:08.099+00:002013-10-16T12:08:08.099+00:00Annabel - I agree. I felt overwhelmed by the space...Annabel - I agree. I felt overwhelmed by the space. Perhaps that's one of the reasons why it was a loss-making store in the days of HMV.<br /><br />Carol - Long may it continue. It's been suggested that reading will die out, but my youngest son loves books and I don't hear a peep out of him for hours sometimes. He's only seven, so I hope that he's one of a new generation of book buyers.<br /><br />Nota Bene - I agree, and in a small town, a bookshop can also be a cultural hub. I used to encourage local drama groups to stage plays in my last shop and it seemed to go down really well. A high street without a bookshop is a sad place.<br /><br />Lucy - No, it's not over yet, but I know that many bookshops are on the brink of going into the red. You're probably right about smaller, shorter books for an age in which reading competes with so many other things. Like this.<br /><br />Debra - A tannoy is a loudspeaker that is used to make announcements in places like stations and shops.<br /><br />Yes, I am quite nostalgic, although I try to remind myself of all the negatives of too. I was particularly depressed by London the other day, as it felt like a theme park for tourists and millionaires, serviced by a population of poorly-paid immigrants. It can't be progress when even relatively well-paid people can't afford to live there any more. <br /><br />Laura - It all depends whether the declining sales will bottom-out at some point. My crystal ball tells me that out of 280 branches, Waterstones .probably only needs 50, in large towns or cities with a strong catchment of middle-class people. <br /><br />If ebooks become as easy to illegally download and share as MP3s, then there'll be a meltdown. Otherwise, it will probably just be a slow and steady process of contraction.Steerforthhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07627936539372313828noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32570460.post-52802697342092446912013-10-15T12:10:52.501+00:002013-10-15T12:10:52.501+00:00Well I for one will be happy to host a kindle burn...Well I for one will be happy to host a kindle burning!<br /><br />Am having very little to do with Amazon these days since the tax avoidance scandal, that is for sure. But I only used it for books that I could not find elsewhere, even when I did use it.<br /><br />Good luck to Mr Daunt. I actually do think there is a chance that things will turn around for the book selling world, but that is where my crystal ball fails me.The Poet Laura-eatehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07779308486569849157noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32570460.post-81320150428706558992013-10-14T17:22:59.574+00:002013-10-14T17:22:59.574+00:00What's a tannoy ? I don't know this word.....What's a tannoy ? I don't know this word...<br />Actually, as morose as you may find England, I can assure you that England's social climate is Disneylandesque next to that of France...<br />The rat race (or treadmill...) has not revved up to France's uniform industrial speed. (I used to say that French society has a knack for importing the worst American practices, and multiplying their evil exponentially. It still mystifies me why this culture so systematically imports what is evil, vulgar, crass, and cheap from my mother country.)<br />Do you ever wonder how people who drove horse and buggy taxis made a go when the automobile became accessible to large numbers of people ? It gives you second thoughts about getting starry eyed over the word "progress", doesn't it ?<br />I agree about the word "product". (Almost) anybody who resorts to it should have his/her mouth washed out with soap.<br />Lots of other words need to get less publicity right now too, I think.<br />The books that I love are beautiful objects too.<br />Way back when, before we decided that everybody had to have tons of books, they could still be beautiful objects.<br />I'm not sure that money is the root of all evil that we like to think it is, though. Our ideas right now are pretty toxic too.<br />Are you as nostalgic as I am ?<br />I bet...Debrahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01510189619803992336noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32570460.post-66170667938390370022013-10-14T17:16:14.865+00:002013-10-14T17:16:14.865+00:00What to call this syndrome? Restaurant at the end ...What to call this syndrome? Restaurant at the end of the universe? Which civilisation threw a last wild party while the barbarians were at the gates? (I sometimes repeat the mantra: It was fun, it ended, things do.)<br /><br />Cheer up - print's not over yet! If I was a publisher/bookseller I would push for smaller, shorter, lighter books. Like an India-paper edition, or a pre-war Penguin.Lucy R. Fisherhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08632983296994349550noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32570460.post-9753837393628352132013-10-14T12:46:53.881+00:002013-10-14T12:46:53.881+00:00There should be a law requiring every high street ...There should be a law requiring every high street to have a good bookshop...it's such a pleasure spending time looking through racks of books deciding which ones to get. Anyone who plays videos loudly in public shouldn't be surprised if a cup of coffee is accidently spilt onto their keyboard...Nota Benehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00969705852180234416noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32570460.post-34584976046484812882013-10-14T00:36:33.964+00:002013-10-14T00:36:33.964+00:00I'm glad too that Waterstone's seems to be...I'm glad too that Waterstone's seems to be turning things around. It's a nice store, and I'd hate to see it go the way of so many bookshops.<br /><br />I can't imagine a world without books. As a child, my dream was to have a room with lots of bookshelves crammed with books. And now I do.<br /><br />I'm a lucky woman! :))Canadian Chickadeehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12995693884248628958noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32570460.post-21572713183808457652013-10-13T10:09:13.916+00:002013-10-13T10:09:13.916+00:00Waterstones Piccadilly is too like an art gallery ...Waterstones Piccadilly is too like an art gallery to me. I find it too hard to choose books with all that space and bright lighting. I prefer a bit of higgledy-piggledyness more conducive to book purchasing. I can see why it was a suicide hotspot!Annabel (gaskella)http://gaskella.wordpress.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32570460.post-46951936792839524002013-10-13T08:16:39.753+00:002013-10-13T08:16:39.753+00:00There was a culture, during the HMV days, of emplo...There was a culture, during the HMV days, of employing people from other areas of retail. I think the idea was that booksellers were too airy-fairy to have any real business sense. <br /><br />I used to suggest that perhaps these macho, swaggering types (who'd joined Woolworths when they were 16 and had often a chippy attitude towards anyone with a degree) were actually idiots, but I felt like a lone voice.<br /><br />They almost destroyed Waterstone's and it was no surprise when James Daunt gave them their marching orders as soon as he became MD.Steerforthhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07627936539372313828noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32570460.post-73210372707490859722013-10-13T06:08:44.904+00:002013-10-13T06:08:44.904+00:00Leanings?! Ironical that a bookshop chain would ma...Leanings?! Ironical that a bookshop chain would mangle language so.<br /><br />Maybe the future is like the British Library where the wall of fine books is merely a visual backdrop to people jabbing at their "devices",<br />No wonder they put up Perspex screens.Roghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09430706557035189147noreply@blogger.com